The present invention relates to a prosthetic knit having zones that can be unraveled and permit easy separation of knitted bands or tapes in the direction of production of the knit. These bands or tapes can be used as textile medical devices that may or may not be implanted in the human body.
Textile devices that are not implantable include, for example, compresses, textile support dressings, etc. Devices that can be implanted in the human body include, for example, textile prostheses in general, such as wall reinforcements in parietal surgery for example, urethral support tapes in the treatment of female stress urinary incontinence, and in the treatment of pelvic floor disorders, which are generally found mainly in females and are also referred to as prolapses.
These textile devices generally need to have a specific strength suited to their application. This is particularly the case of textile prostheses implanted in the human body. Thus, parietal reinforcements are used to replace and/or strengthen and/or support the abdominal wall, at least on a temporary basis. Likewise, suburethral support tapes have to support the middle urethra, preferably in a definitive and permanent manner. The same applies to support implants used in the treatment of prolapses.
These textile prostheses therefore need to have a certain dimensional stability. To achieve this, these textile prostheses are generally subjected to a thermosetting step which increases their dimensional stability. The prostheses are then easier to manipulate.
However, the manipulation of tapes of small width, particularly with a view to a thermosetting operation, is particularly awkward and may lead to substantial numbers of tapes being discarded when they become unusable because the thermosetting has not been carried out properly. Moreover, thermosetting each tape on an individual basis means that the thermosetting of the tapes is not homogeneous and not reproducible.